Wikispaces is a hosting service based in San Francisco, CA and launched in March 2005. Wikispaces.com is one of the largest wiki host sites competing with pbworks, wetpaint, wikipedia and google sites. A wiki is a collaborative website, or group of webpages, that allow a community of users to participate in discussions, projects and edit content. According to wikispaces.com, over 6 million students and teachers have created wikis since the launch of the website in 2005. Professional development, personal portfolios, distance learning, class schedules and calendars, assignments and curriculum planning are just a few of the ways wikispaces are used in education.
Where can you find wikispaces? You can find wikispaces on the internet at www.wikispaces.com.
What does wiki mean? According to dictionary.com the origin of wiki is Hawaiian and means hurry; quick, fast How is wikispaces beneficial for education? Wikispaces provide teachers and students with a website that is user-friendly and ready to use. Templates are usually provided as well as tutorials and online assistance. The ease of the wiki allows the user or users to spend more time on content of the project and less time navigating the use of the tool. A wiki also keeps track of all editing done to the site so a student writing a paper can organize, write, submit, and rewrite according to the teachers comments and suggestions all using one wiki page. Wikis allow students working on group projects to collaborate, organize and share ideas but also giving each person their own time to work individually to create and edit. A wiki is a way for all students and the teacher to have immediate access to their work. A new feature from wikispaces allows teachers to assign a lock time to a wiki. Once a scheduled editing due date has been reached for an assignment or project so that it is impossible to make any more edits or changes to the wiki. Other ways wikispaces can be used in the classroom:
as a digital portfolio for student work
as an alternative to textbooks (much cheaper and better for the environment)
as a place to track, documents and manage documents
Take a look at The Cool Cat Teacher Blog Post How I use wikis. What do you do? to see how educator Vicki Davis uses wikis in education. Teachers First:Wiki Walk-Through gives a very brief but clear introduction to wikis; what it is, who uses it, how can you use it and ideas for various subjects. How do you get started with wikispaces?
Create a user account by picking a username, a password and enter your email address
You will have the option of joining another person's wiki or creating your own
If creating a new wiki, you will want to name it, and set the specification type (education, business, personal, etc. and then click join)
Your account is now created and you are free to create a new wiki
Wikispaces offers a getting started tutorial where you can learn to edit your wiki, invite new members and more.
The edit button is at the top right page of your wiki. Once you click the edit button you can add text, change the font, color, template design, upload graphics and images and so much more.
The most important thing to remember is to SAVE your work. The save button will appear in the toolbar while you are in edit mode.
Youtube is also a great resource containing many video tutorials on how to create and utilize wikispaces in an educational setting. The following video is an Intro to Class Wiki with Wikispaces.
How much does a wikispace cost? A wikispace for educators and students is cost and ad free. There are also other pricing plans for individuals, larger groups, and corporations needing more space, and special features such as private label plans, SSL security, and custom themes. The three plan options are as follows:
Plan
Pricing
Basic
Free
Plus
$5/Month $50/Year
Super
$20/Month $200/Year
Private Label
$1000/Year Per 100 Users
You can find various wiki sites by doing a search or you can see the links below. All sites I've listed below offer free, basic plans but some sites have more plans with other options available for a fee.
What is wikispaces?
Wikispaces is a hosting service based in San Francisco, CA and launched in March 2005. Wikispaces.com is one of the largest wiki host sites competing with pbworks, wetpaint, wikipedia and google sites. A wiki is a collaborative website, or group of webpages, that allow a community of users to participate in discussions, projects and edit content. According to wikispaces.com, over 6 million students and teachers have created wikis since the launch of the website in 2005. Professional development, personal portfolios, distance learning, class schedules and calendars, assignments and curriculum planning are just a few of the ways wikispaces are used in education.
Where can you find wikispaces?
You can find wikispaces on the internet at www.wikispaces.com.
What does wiki mean?
According to dictionary.com the origin of wiki is Hawaiian and means hurry; quick, fast
How is wikispaces beneficial for education?
Wikispaces provide teachers and students with a website that is user-friendly and ready to use. Templates are usually provided as well as tutorials and online assistance. The ease of the wiki allows the user or users to spend more time on content of the project and less time navigating the use of the tool. A wiki also keeps track of all editing done to the site so a student writing a paper can organize, write, submit, and rewrite according to the teachers comments and suggestions all using one wiki page. Wikis allow students working on group projects to collaborate, organize and share ideas but also giving each person their own time to work individually to create and edit. A wiki is a way for all students and the teacher to have immediate access to their work. A new feature from wikispaces allows teachers to assign a lock time to a wiki. Once a scheduled editing due date has been reached for an assignment or project so that it is impossible to make any more edits or changes to the wiki. Other ways wikispaces can be used in the classroom:
Take a look at The Cool Cat Teacher Blog Post How I use wikis. What do you do? to see how educator Vicki Davis uses wikis in education. Teachers First:Wiki Walk-Through gives a very brief but clear introduction to wikis; what it is, who uses it, how can you use it and ideas for various subjects.
How do you get started with wikispaces?
Youtube is also a great resource containing many video tutorials on how to create and utilize wikispaces in an educational setting. The following video is an Intro to Class Wiki with Wikispaces.
How much does a wikispace cost?
A wikispace for educators and students is cost and ad free. There are also other pricing plans for individuals, larger groups, and corporations needing more space, and special features such as private label plans, SSL security, and custom themes. The three plan options are as follows:
$50/Year
$200/Year
You can find various wiki sites by doing a search or you can see the links below. All sites I've listed below offer free, basic plans but some sites have more plans with other options available for a fee.
www.wikispaces.com
www.pbworks.com
http://wikisineducation.wetpaint.com/
http://www.zoho.com/wiki/wiki-education.html
For more information on other Web 2.0 tools Applications, please click below to visit our FRIT 8530 Class Wiki Book